Christmas in Hawaii

now that was absofreaking awesome. best Christmas yet!! your papa & I at separate times got choked up at how great God's grace is, and how awesome His work is. I said to your papa & 'nai a couple of times "this was supposed to be a vacation, and it's turned into a spiritual awakening" God was with us every step of the way and he was LOUD. we were humbled.
and since your papa has ants in his pants and granted 'nai and I did want to have as much fun as possible, we had 6 days of activity packed days. let's just say you've never slept so well at night. ps thank god for the ergo, for naps away from hotel👍. on days when you napped in the hotel, I took full advantage and got some shut eye. not papa. "nap? honey have you felt the water in the beach, I don't and can't do naps in Hawaii". cray cray papa. at the end of the day we were truly ready to sleep. my personal favorite being the day we spent at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). the shuttle picked us up @10am and dropped us off @10:30pm. I changed your diaper while you slept when we got back, that hasn't happened since you were probably 4mos old. I guess a day of culture and hula dancing will do that to you.
ditching the rental last minute for the bus/shuttle was the best idea. it was awesome walking around the streets of Waikiki day or night amongst the locals and happy relaxed fellow tourists. watching papa make friends on each bus/shuttle ride just like granpa used to do. Australians at the bus stop; an Ohio couple on a bus; a New Zealand student @ PCC. the best was looking over to where he was sitting next to a mature local lady as she told him what Year she got her drivers license and the process. really??!? major Lol. his response was "she liked to talk and i do too, so i let her"" again, really??!? I guess it's true, you marry a man like your father:))); it was also great because we got tips to the best places to/not to go and earning each meal by pounding the pavement:))
it's really hard to find the words to describe each day and the fun we had. how our hearts were filled watching you loving every minute. running around in the hotel lobby, making friends; being so good on the bus/shuttle; completely enamoured by the ocean and so much more. so of course I took as many pics as I could to try and capture as much magic as I could for our Christmas in Hawaii...
Merry Christmas baby girl...pics to help you relive one day. it's a little long because, well, i had to capture as much as i could. so you might start watching when you're 5yrs old and be done by 15.. holler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Zoe

Thank you for being the beautiful mischievous fun loving light in our lives. Yesterday something horrific happened and 20 families had what you give us daily, ripped out of their lives. 

Thank you for being an unknowing anchor in such madness, for keeping my tears at bay as you pound your mouth to announce you're hungry yet again; healing my broken heart with your countless 'laugh for no reason' sessions; taking an extra short nap: forcing me to read you 4 books over and over, saving me from wallowing in the cloud of this unimaginable grief for 26 families. 

So I pray today for them and for you and your cousins, that you may look back on this as something that used to happen, and I'll never have a conversation many of mama's friends had to have with their kids. Please God may this be the last. 

Thank you baby for being a light in this darkness

Mama & Papa

Your Grandpa ...10/8/45-12/10/10

its adorable watching you hold  a picture of him trying to repeat 'grandpa" and them giving his picture kisses. he would have loved you so much. you definitely have his infinite capacity to love. 

one day you shall meet but for now, you'll have to settle for stories and this...

http://www.photoshow.com/watch/Sg8jP8JQ

 

gogo comes to visit

So that was a fun time with gogo. After the tears on day one, you were taking walks to the park with ''nai ( that's what you call auntie chenai❤) while mama & papa went to work. she taught you songs you still love to stomp your feet to; how to get ready set go, before you toddle off-it's so cute watching you bend over to set & go; we picked up a new bedtime routine thanks to her-way to go gogo; you enjoyed being loved up all day by our small "village"; i could go on. every time she calls she now wants her kisses from Zoe and a run down on your new activities. I hope she remembers because I'm losing track, after 12 mos it's as if you went into acceleration mode.. our heads are spinning trying to keep up. when she first left you used to look for her or look up the stairs as if waiting for her to come down. so judging from both your reactions I think it was a successful trip.
until next time when she comes back on her one way trip, we'll treasure her the amazing time we had....